I have written extensively about the challenges in driving better outcomes in our patients with advanced CKD and ESRD. Not the least of these is the continued reliance of clinicians, payers and regulators on clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) to determine what domains are worthy of focus for public reporting and for payment to dialysis facilities. Unfortunately, however, the CPGs in nephrology are small in number and, despite excellent performance across the ESRD population on overall, we have not moved the needle on the really important primary outcomes that will ultimately result in better lives for our patients: lower mortality, fewer hospitalizations and an improved experience of care.

A recent article in Health Affairs described a different approach to achieving the goals for which we all strive—the use of standardized clinical assessment and management plans (SCAMPs), “a clinician-designed approach to promoting care standardization that accommodates patients’ individual differences, respects providers’ clinical acumen, and keeps pace with the rapid growth of medical knowledge.”(1) This approach was developed and has been applied largely by pediatricians as an outgrowth of their frustration with CPGs. Nearly 50 SCAMPs have been developed, and more than 12,000 patients currently are enrolled in SCAMP programs. Read more…

Patients with ESRD are the most medication-burdened of all the chronically ill. They take an average of 8 to 10 different medications, consuming more than 20 pills per day. It is not surprising, therefore, that the ability of nephrologists, dialysis facilities and patients to manage these medications is a challenge. Patients often do not know what medications they are on, and the monthly “pill check”—usually a shoebox filled with medication bottles—is notoriously inaccurate (1). More importantly, it has been estimated that up to a third of hospitalizations among the frail elderly (which includes a significant number of ESRD patients), and nearly half of re-hospitalizations in this population, are related to medication errors or adverse reactions. Finally, because of the large pill burden, the high costs of some medications and the significant occurrence of adverse events, adherence to prescribed medications is suboptimal (2).

Integrated pharmacy services can help resolve many of these issues for ESRD patients, as recently demonstrated by Weinhandl et al (3). This study compared nearly 9,000 patients enrolled in the DaVita Rx full-service pharmacy program to more than 40,000 control patients not in the program. Read more…

We are seeing a continual increase in the number of US patients with CKD and ESRD. The epidemic of obesity, and resultant diabetes and hypertension, has not abated and will continue to swell the ranks of patients needing care from nephrologists. Add to this the incredible improvement in the survival rate of ESRD patients over the last decade and the extended availability of medical care to the uninsured thanks to the Affordable Care Act, and we are indeed on the brink of a tidal wave of kidney patients. These facts should be a wake-up call to health policy-makers, especially in light of the shocking statistics from the most recent Medical Specialties Matching Program (MSMP)(1). For appointment year 2013, MSMP indicates that nearly a quarter of nephrology fellowship programs had unfilled positions, the worst of all medical subspecialties. Only 25 percent of positions were filled by US graduates overall and only 21 percent of clinical nephrology positions are filled by US graduates—the lowest of any medical subspecialty. Read more…

Every March National Kidney Month comes around, and every March I wonder how it is that the eighth leading cause of death in this country still hasn’t achieved the public recognition and awareness level of other killers, like heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes. It seems we could save so many lives and avoid so much suffering if the general public knew even the most basic information about kidney disease and its risk factors.

But the somewhat frustrating truth is that when I talk about what I do professionally with nonmedical people, I frequently hear the question, “What’s dialysis?” People generally seem to know they have kidneys and know they’re important, but have no idea why.

There’s so much health-related information available—so many conditions clamoring for funding and recognition—that it may all be too much for the modern consumer to digest.  Frankly, there are so many ribbons representing advocacy for various disease states that no one seems to know which color goes with which illness anymore. For example, the ribbon for kidney conditions is green, but so are the ribbons for bipolar disorder, celiac disease, scoliosis, cerebral palsy and Tourette syndrome, to name a few. Read more…

A recent editorial in the New York Times described a move by the New York City public hospital system to “pay doctors based on how well they perform.” (1) Under this program, the more than 3,000 salaried doctors at the NYU School of Medicine, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Physician Affiliate Group of New York will receive no cost-of-living increases for the next three years, but there will be annual bonuses tied to meeting quality-performance goals. In the same issue of the Times there is an important critique of the pay-for-performance (P4P) approach, describing what many policy experts have said for years: “If only it worked.” (2) Op-ed columnist Bill Keller points out that the real driver of costs in our healthcare system is not overutilization of services, but rather the high unit cost of each service. Others may debate this premise, but the reality is likely a bit of both—more units and higher cost for each. As Bill Clinton said during the 2012 Democratic National Convention, “it’s math, folks,” and P4P is unlikely to change these factors significantly. Read more…

My last blog used the infamous Rodney King episode in Los Angeles as the springboard for suggesting that integrating care—physicians, hospitals and patients working together—is essential to achieve the best clinical outcomes for the chronically ill while constraining the runaway costs of healthcare. A recent article in The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/opinion/approaching-illness-as-a-team-at-the-cleveland-clinic.html?_r=0) makes it clear that this is not a theoretical concept. Physicians at one of the great healthcare organizations in the country, the Cleveland Clinic, have been forming focused teams that can mobilize to efficiently diagnose and treat a variety of illnesses, including neurological, cardiovascular, oncologic, urologic and nephrologic. Read more…

On March 3, 1991, an infamous event was caught on videotape in Los Angeles. Rodney King, a parolee and construction worker, was beaten brutally by Los Angeles police officers following a high-speed chase. After the video went viral the police officers were arrested and charged with assault and excessive force. Following the acquittal of three of the four officers on April 29, 1992, there were riots in Los Angeles, with 53 people killed and thousands injured. It was during the riots that Rodney King, the lightning rod for these events, asked, “Can we all get along?” Read more…

It seems that everywhere one looks in the healthcare media these days, there are stories about the competitive advantages of physicians using social media. For example, American Medical News recently published a very informative article entitled “Four Ways Social Media Can Improve Your Medical Practice,” which illustrates the ways in which physicians using social media as a listening tool can discover needed services, improve customer service, gather feedback on medications and compare and improve quality.

I don’t disagree that social media offers physicians a valuable listening tool that may well provide some competitive advantage. But I’m much more interested in the collaborative advantage social media offers as a community-building tool. Read more…

DaVita is entering the world of international dialysis in a big way. We are partnering with doctors in Singapore, India, China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Germany and other countries. As we embark on this exciting adventure, we again are faced with the nagging perception that dialysis outcomes in the United States are worse than those in other parts of the world. Two recent articles provide fascinating perspectives on this important issue. Read more…

I am becoming more optimistic as I continue to understand and refine the programs of VillageHealth, the DaVita integrated care–management organization, and delve into the incredible success of HealthCare Partners, DaVita’s new partner. This optimism is driven by the belief that physician-led, physician-driven, patient-centric care can not only be accomplished, but such an approach optimizes clinical outcomes while responsibly controlling costs. Read more…